Seasonal Attractions: Tips for A Successful Opening Day

I spent years as an operations manager for a major boat tour company in a large U.S. city, where I had to strategically coordinate everything like a chess game to ensure smooth operations.

Today, I take pride in sharing my expertise with our seasonal customers across boat tours, water parks, and theme parks. Having encountered virtually every scenario possible, I've identified several common challenges that seasonal attractions face. I hope these insights help you optimize operations, enhance customer experience, and improve efficiency.

Training Challenges and Solutions

Seasonal staffing presents one of the biggest hurdles for these businesses. In many cases, staff receive minimal training before serving live customers. This common scenario creates a stressful environment for both employees and guests.

Proactive Training Strategies:

• Allocate dedicated training time before the season begins
• Create comprehensive training videos and documents
• Incentivize staff to complete training in advance of the season with rewards
• Implement quick "practice scenarios" to verify understanding
• Train multiple team members on hardware setup and troubleshooting

I’ve observed that once properly shown how to troubleshoot issues, managers pick up processes quickly. This highlights the importance of investing in proper training materials and sessions.

Hardware Management Best Practices

Many operational issues stem from hardware mismanagement. There are often opportunities to save significant time when it comes to setting up EMV devices and troubleshooting equipment problems.

Hardware Optimization Tips:

• Label all hardware clearly to prevent mismatches between iPads and payment terminals
• Create a sign-in/sign-out system for equipment
• Designate specific spots for all hardware
• Install counter mounts for iPads to improve security and charging
• Ensure devices are fully charged before shifts begin
• Switch from iPads to phones for more efficient scanning operations

Poor hardware organization leads to significant delays and customer frustration. By implementing these simple organizational tactics, seasonal attractions can dramatically improve operational efficiency.

Streamlining Admissions Processes

The admissions area creates particular bottlenecks for seasonal attractions, especially during the first two hours after opening when volume was highest.

Admissions Improvements:

• Open admissions offices 30 minutes before opening time to get ahead of lines
• Install microphones at ticket booths to improve communication
• Implement queue lines to organize entry and re-entry traffic
• Designate separate locations for exit and re-entry
• Staff the line to encourage online purchases while customers wait

Season pass processing can also create additional challenges. When attractions require all pass holders to visit the ticket booth for photo verification or capture, this can create unnecessary bottlenecks.

Season Pass Optimization:

• Require photos to be uploaded online during purchase
• Allow pass holders to proceed directly to admissions for scanning
• Have scanning staff verify photos at entry
• Implement application rules limiting season passes to one scan per day to prevent fraudulent use
• Encourage digital passes to reduce printing needs

Enhancing Customer Communication with RocketRez Relay

Many attractions face challenges communicating with guests about weather delays, rainchecks, and service alerts. This is a perfect opportunity to use Relay, our SMS guest communication tool.

Communication Enhancements:

• Work with booking platforms to enable SMS notifications for service alerts
• Collect phone numbers at POS for marketing and operational communications
• Implement a streamlined system for raincheck distribution
• Post service alerts on your website

I recommend having your staff collect phone numbers at the POS from all customers. This creates valuable marketing opportunities while also improving how you communicate with guests during their visit.

However, there's a balance to consider: collecting phone numbers might slightly slow down the check-in process, even as it enhances your ability to communicate with guests. You'll need to evaluate your specific priorities to determine if this approach makes sense for your operation.

System Administration and Reporting

Several issues can stem from having too many system administrators making configuration changes without proper training.

System Management Recommendations:

• Limit system administrators to 1-2 experienced users
• Create an internal request system for modifications (new web engines, users, retail items, price changes)
• Review accounting reports on a daily basis
• Manage reseller orders and invoices to better manager B2B sales

During a new onboarding, I often spend time reviewing reporting capabilities with various department heads, helping them understand how to extract valuable insights from the system. The robust reporting capabilities in RocketRez provide operators with many informational advantages, making it extremely important to know which reports to run to get the data you need.

Conclusion

The universal challenges are known: seasonal staffing, rapid ramp-up, weather disruptions, and high-volume periods. I have met many excellent department managers who are extremely knowledgeable about operations and receptive to optimization suggestions.

By implementing these recommendations, seasonal attractions can significantly improve their operational efficiency, enhance customer experience, and reduce staff frustration.

The most successful businesses recognize that investing in proper training, hardware management, better processes, and clear communication systems pays dividends in customer satisfaction and operational success. While budget constraints are real, many of these improvements require minimal financial investment while delivering substantial returns.

I hope that by learning from my experience, you can better prepare for their busy seasons, creating smoother operations and more enjoyable experiences for both guests and staff.